Anomalon production by impulsive excitation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We have calculated the excitation energies of projectile fragments produced when relativistic projectiles make peripheral collisions with target nuclei. We find that the excitation energy of the fragment is much greater when the target nucleus is relatively heavy (such as Ag or Br) than when it is light (C or O). This could explain the difference between the results of anomalon searches in nuclear emulsion and plastic detectors.